I hung out with a friend of mine from writing class a few nights ago. We had an awesome time laughing and telling stories. And then, the next day, I sent him some very clever texts, and he didn’t respond. I totally freaked out and asked him if I had done something to weird him out, and, when he didn’t respond, I went into anxiety overdrive.

I couldn’t sleep for two nights. I broke out in hives. I texted everyone in my phone to tell them that I felt like shit because I was such a weirdo and alienated people. My brain just latches onto things and WILL. NOT. LET. GO.

Finally, I sent him a Facebook message saying, “Hey, I know I sent you some weirdo texts, but can we just pretend that that didn’t happen? We had such a good time the other night, and I don’t want my occasional awkwardness to get in the way of a friendship.”

He sent me a message back saying that his phone had been on an unanticipated trip through the washer, so he hadn’t gotten any of my texts. But he definitely wanted to hang out soon.

I actually laughed out loud. I told him about my total freak out. Including the hives.

“hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha,” he sent back. “ANXIETY HIFIVE!!!”